As I said in my column this week: why has no senior Labour politician resigned over 42 days as a matter of principle? Now David Davis has done the decent thing and demonstrated what it is to be a conviction politician.
Davis always claimed that opposition to 42 days was not a matter of political positioning but something he passionately believes in. I have always bought this. On the other hand, I have never felt David Cameron and George Osborne were signed up in the same way and it is interesting that there has been no pledge to repeal 42 days by the Tory leadership. It is certainly odd that Davis informed Nick Clegg of his decision, but appears not to have consulted his leader.
Gordon Brown’s intention was to use this issue to show the Tories were soft on security and he may well have succeeded in forcing a split at the top of the Conservative Party.
I wish Davis well. The Haltemprice and Howden seat is not a safe seat, so this is a genuinely courageous decision.
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